HOPEWELL - After almost 10 years, Hopewell has a new commonwealth's attorney. Rick Newman, currently prosecutor in Petersburg, won against incumbent Commonwealth's Attorney Anthony Sylvester with 2,804 out of 4,515 votes cast. That's a lead of 1,093 vote

HOPEWELL - After almost 10 years, Hopewell has a new commonwealth's attorney. Rick Newman, currently prosecutor in Petersburg, won against incumbent Commonwealth's Attorney Anthony Sylvester with 2,804 out of 4,515 votes cast. That's a lead of 1,093 votes. Overall, Newman got 62 percent of the vote and Sylvester 38.

"This is the first step to a positive change for the city," Newman said after his election was announced. "We are going to move forward and get done what needs to be done," he said.

His opponent was visibly shocked by the results. "Mr. Newman was successful in transferring the city's crime rate from the police department to the responsibility of the commonwealth's attorney," he said.

Regrettably, the police department chose not to set the record straight, Sylvester said. "There was a lack of response."

"If it's the public desire to have a change, then I respect that," he added.

Initially, Sylvester had believed that he would, once again, run unopposed. He was elected commonwealth's attorney in Hopewell in 2000, after his opponent dropped out of the race. He has run unopposed in every election since.

When Newman announced his bid in June, Sylvester was surprised. "I spoke to my opponent in spring, and he told me that he wouldn't run," Sylvester told The Progress-Index in August. Until shortly before the election, Sylvester maintained the theory that Newman was brought in from the outside to oust him. "He was simply recruited to run against me," Sylvester said.

Newman grew up in Richmond and has been practicing law since 1984. He became a prosecutor in Petersburg in 1999 and ran for commonwealth's attorney in Dinwiddie County two years ago, but lost.

Newman said that he was running for office in Hopewell because he believed that Sylvester "destroyed the police department" while in office. "It's not a secret, Mr. Sylvester ran two police chiefs out town," Newman said.

Sylvester dismissed these allegations as "inflammatory rhetoric."

Newman's campaign gained momentum when 23 of the 59 Hopewell police officers endorsed him in a letter to the media.

In their endorsement letter, the officers allege that Sylvester was responsible for a "friction between our department and the current commonwealth's attorney's office." They also accuse Sylvester of having caused damage to the relationship between the police department and the city's prosecutors. "Over and over again, our officers have not received the respect they deserve and our department has been subjected to interference from Mr. Sylvester in personnel and other departmental policy matters," the statement said.

Sylvester denied these allegations, stating that he doesn't deal with police officers directly but goes through the city manager and police chief.

Yesterday, Sylvester admitted that this endorsement possibly contributed to him losing the election.

"I would have liked to have seen a response from the police chief or city manager to come forward and say that this is simply not the case," Sylvester said.

In the course of the race, Sylvester appeared to be increasingly disgusted with his opponent's campaign. "As a 30-year resident of Hopewell, I have never seen, let alone participated in an election producing such negativity," Sylvester recently stated on his homepage.

But Newman denied that he had run a negative campaign. "The only ugliness in the campaign came from Mr. Sylvester and his supporters," he said last night. "We have never attacked him."

Both candidates ran on very different platforms. Newman believes the commonwealth's attorney's biggest challenge is what he calls "Hopewell's increasing gang activity." Sylvester, however, doesn't see it that way. "We've got some issues with gangs, but if we had a gang problem, don't you think that police would be charging more people with gang activity?" he said at a recent candidates forum.

Another difference between the candidates is their approach to juvenile crime. Sylvester is a known hardliner, who seeks to try juvenile felons as adults, while Newman believes in giving them a second chance by putting them in programs.

If Newman sticks to his campaign promise, he will shut down the use of special grand juries, which he alleges have been used by Sylvester for "witch hunts, personal gains and vendettas." Sylvester has always denied this, calling special grand juries "part of some of the most important tools that we have."

Sylvester did not announce any plans for his future last night. "I don't really know what's next," he said.

- Markus Schmidt may be reached at 722-5172 or mschmidt@progress-index.com.

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